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4 stars for book two in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer! This review will be spoiler-free, but will contain spoilers if you have not read Cinder!
Summary:
So Scarlet is the sequel to Cinder and I have to say is just as good at Cinder. Not any more spectacular, but not any less either. The story starts literally the day after Cinder’s incident at the ball. Cinder is trying to escape her prison and while doing so she picks up Captain Thorne along the way. Once she has escaped she’s officially become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive and Emperor Kai seriously cannot figure out why Queen Levana wants this one prisoner so badly.
Now, all the in Europe (France specifically) we are in the point of view of Scarlet (“Yes, like the hair.”). Scarlet Benoit is the grand daughter of Michelle Benoit. Scarlet’s grand-mere has been taken and Scar is desperately trying to figure out who could have taken her and why. She soon realizes that there’s a lot about her grand-mere that doesn’t add up. While at a restaurant doing her usual produce delivery, she speaks out against a crowd that is throwing insults at Cinder on the screens, and a man comes to her rescue, Wolf. When she finds out that he could help her find her grandmother, she has to trust him to take her to Paris where her grandmother could be. From there Scarlet’s story takes off as she tries to find and rescue her grand-mere.
This book is another retelling, one of Little Red Riding Hood I believe, and there are so many allusions (even some that are not so obvious) to the original fairytale that made this book feel like an actually retelling, but not in an annoying way. I still found myself surprised during certain events and some events I found pretty predictable. THE ROMANCE is again my favorite part of this series as well as how evil Queen Levana is. The slow parts are bearable because once you get into the action, its really hard to put this one down. The entire second half of this book is WONDERFUL. Meyer is awesome at writing fighting scenes and showing how the Lunar gift works. I’ll definitely be moving onto Cress next month!
Plot:
I like how we didn’t lose anytime between the book. This one picks up right where the other left off, just you know, in a different country. Scarlet had multiple points of views like Cinder, which was needed because there are so many characters in this story and even more to come. I definitely preferred Cinders/Captain Thornes/Kai’s parts more as I found Scarlet’s parts to be a bit dry. Though in the beginning I did not like how Cinder did not want to be selfish with leaving Kai to deal with all the problems she left him, but she still did not want to embrace her true self as Princess Selene because that would be the ultimate shackle and she just wants freedom. Like c’mon, you’re still being selfish. I’m very glad how everything ended up developing with her though towards the last third of the book.
The plot of this book was not so much of an up and down type plot, but like a build-up to the end where everybody finally meets type of plot. Not sure if that makes sense, but it might when you read it. I liked it! I lived for Cinder and Thorne’s parts because they were the most engaging for me. They had more suspense built into their POV’s because, I mean, they are fugitives running away from an entire country and an evil monarch.
Scarlet and Wolf had a great romance I think, but her character didn’t really connect with me. There were some big reveals about the Lunars that we find out through her though and that definitely added some scariness to Levana.
I felt really bad for Kai in this book. Cinder’s absence really put him in a bad situation while he’s got all the people in the commonwealth watching him and even people from other countries. He's got an evil bratty queen on his butt the whole time. Kinda mad at him in the end, but I know that will change (hopefully). I know he feel responsible for all the horribleness that Levana causes, but agh I just feel so bad for him. He needs to be saved. Thankfully, I think that’s what happens in the books to come.
The last chapter in Cinder’s POV was probably my favorite aside from the fight scenes. The way the last page was worded has me super pumped for Cress! I just need to order it and I’ll start reading it in May!
Characters:
I LOVE WOLF. His character is just so flawed and so beautifully written. He’s the type of character that you see change quite a lot in a series, and those are my faves! Not going to lie.. I was having some twilight-Jacob-alpha-wolf-pack flash backs with the whole “I must obey my alpha/instincts” stuff, but I did not mind that at all. I thought it was very fitting for his characters and the plot.
I also love Prince Kai who has been both lied to and utterly betrayed, but still has feelings for the girl he learned to be a cyborg and Lunar. He’s just the sweetest!
Captain Carswell Thorne, oh my goodness, he is like my Leo from Percy Jackson mixed with Captain Jack Sparrow. Sarcastic, flirty, good-looking, AND funny. I don’t think he has many POV’s, but I really liked all his dialogue most of all and he does talk A LOT (in a cute charming way). I wonder if there will be a love triangle to come between him, Kai, and Cinder? Hmmm.
I find that Marissa Meyer’s male characters in this series are much better than the female characters, though I like Cinder. Cinder was great in book one and turned out to be great towards the end of book two, too. Scarlet however isn’t my favorite. She’s okay. Sometimes I felt like she was just there… Necessary to move the story along, but not really interesting. She didn’t start to grow on me until like the last 10 chapters and that mostly because of Wolf.
QUEEN LEVANA IS SO EVIL. She’s the type of villain in a book that you wish you could just strangle with all her righteous-I-clearly-won-already attitude. It’s PERFECT. Will definitely make for a satisfying ending with how awful she is.
Oh and side note, they only made a small appearance, but Adri and her daughter are despicable. Gosh, I don’t even know how Prince Kai could stand it. They truly kept their personas of evil stepmother/daughter from the original Cinderella.
Thank you for reading! :)